Dehydrator



Nov. 23 1926.

` R. H. LlNsDAY DEHYDRATOR Filed Feb. e, 1925 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 attorney*l Patented Nov.- 23, 1926.

UNITED STATES 1,601,898 PATENT DFEICE.-

ROBERT'H. LINDSAY, 0F HOUSTON, TEXAS.

DEI-IYDRATOR.

Application led February 6, v1925. Serial No. 7,397.

cost of treating the oil is a material item ofA expense necessary inobtaining oil free from its emulsion of water.

It is an object of my invention to provide an apparatus for treating thecrude oil asv it comes from the well, whereby the impurities` may beremoved in a .simple and economical manner. It is also desired that theprocess of separation shall be a continuous one, so that a continuousstream of the cut4 oil may ass through the device for purificationwitlibut intermissions or delays.

My invention involves warming the crude oil to a temperature ofapproximately 150 Fahrenheit and maintaining it at about thattemperature 'and allowing the oil and water to expand in an open pansubjected to theaction of the air.

This will cause the water particles to expand and coalesce and unite toform larger particles which will'separate by gravity; carrying off alsosuch other impurities as there mayl be in the oil.

In carryin out t is process, I employ a furnace of wliich Fig. 1 is abroken central vertical section. Fig. 2 is a transverse section on theplane 2-2 ofFiv. 1. Fig. 3 is a horizontal section of the urnace ookingdownl upon the oil pipes. Fig. ..4 is a top plan view'with the upperwall partly broken away. Like numerals' of reference are emp loyed todesignatelike parts in all the views.

The furnace may be'of'anly a( proved conl ust struction. The drawin i raone of approximately rectangu ar form, having its forward wall 1 formedwith an opening 2 leading to a iirebox 5. Said opening is normallyclosed by a cover or door 3. Below the door an oil burner pipe 4lextends through the wall,cterminating within the firebox, in a burnernozzle 6. Directly in front of. said nozzle is afirewall or baille 7 ofheat resisting material. The flames land heated ases from the rebox passover the upper orwardly inclined firewall and then rearwardly to thechimney 8.

In the upper end of the furnace is a pan or plate 9`whichis of the -fullwidth of the furnace. At the forward end of the pan adjacent the frontwall of the furnace, I provide a trap 10, formed by a U shaped curve inthe bottom wall of the pan with a wall or partition 11 secure-d to theupper wall 12 of the furnace and extending'downwardly centrally of thecurved wall-10. At the lower end yof said trapmay be provided an outletor drain pipe 13, which, as shown in Fig. 2,

'extends laterally through the side wall of the furnace and may lead toany means for disposing of the waste thusdrained ofl.

The pan 9 is supported by transverse bars 15v arranged at suitableintervals, and thc length of the furnace and pan ma be arranged as foundnecessary. Throug out the length of the pan I arrange traps 10 similarto the one just described, and the pan and upper wall of the furnacewill incline down-` wardly from the front to vrear of the device so asto carry the oil by ravtyv to the rear end where it may be discargedthrough an outlet pipe 16, to storage.

The cut oil will be heated before it is run into the pan 9 and this maybe accomplished b passing it through a pipe 17 which enters t e frontwall ofthe furnace at 18 and isre- ,curved back 4and forth asshown inFig. 3

below the pan 9 and is'again extended .out through the forward wall at19 and curved upwardly and over the front furnace Wall to dischargeintov the pan at the forward trap 10.

The ipe v17 is supported on transverse supportin bars 21 at a point inthe furnace directly wlthin the path of the heated gases assing from theirebox to the chimney. It 1s provided at its forward end with a valve 22by which the amount of oil passing through the said pipe may beregulated.

within the oil so that it will better settle out.

In order to subject the oill in its-passage overl the pan to the effectof the atmosphere. I have rovided openings 24 in the side wall of theurnace spaced above the pan a material distance above the lev'el of theoil.

The oil, in passing through the traps and The air which finds entrancethrough said j openings will pass 'along the 'surface of the oil and bedischarged upwardly through pipes adjacent each of said traps. Theheated air above the oil will tend to rise and` be discharged throughthe pipes 25, thus causing a draft inwardly through the openings 24 offresh air during the operation of the device. This draft of air acrossthe surface of the oil may be accelerated by blowers or otherwise, ifdesired.

The operation of the device will now be clearly understood. The oilhaving been heatedin the pipe4 17 will be discharged into the pan at theforward end of the furnace. The pan and the traps will bc heated by thegases from the furnace, and will maintain the oil at the desiredtemperature at all times, and it is contemplated that the intensity ofthe heat will be regulated as desired by means of the burner 4. The oillhaving been heated inthe pipe 17 and discharged into the open space inthe trap 10, will expand and the water will tend to at once separatefrom the oil, and such portion of the water as is thus separated fromthe oil will settle to the lower end of the .trap and may be drawn ofilthrough the pipes 13. The passage of theoil through the filter 23 willassist in breaking up the oil and water and will also prevent thepassageof the larger grains of sediment or sand which may be passing throughwith the oil.

As the oil flows along the pan 9 it will be heated further from contactwith the surface of t e pan and will be allowed to spread out and expandl fully under atmospheric pressure. The passage of the air along thesurface of the oil assists in the separating ot' the impurities from theoil in that it carries awayany gases which arise from the oil andsupplies free opening for the entrance of fresh air at all times.

It is contemplated that the inclination of the pan shall be such as tocause the oil to flow slowly by gravity vfrom one end of the pan to theother, and that in its passage through the separate traps arranged alongthe pan all the, water and `basic sediment,

y will gradually drain off through the pipes 13 so that when the oilissuesl through the pipe 16, itr will be entirely free from itsimpurities. f

In the use of this device the flow of im. pure oil `into the apparatusmay be continuous, and during its passage therethrough all theimpurities therefrom will be eliminated, and the speed of flow of theoil through the device may be regulated to acthe pan 9 to the action ofthe air and that kit is allowed to expand freely while thus heated. Thisis a great improvement over the heating of oil` in pipes alone, where itis not thus free to expand. The operation of the apparatus has beenfound to be very efficient and to be cheap and economical inconstruction.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire toprotect by Letters Patent is:

1. ln'an apparatus of the character described, a furnace, a ireboxtherein, a rearwardly inclined pan at the upper end of said furnace,means to feed heated 'oil to the upper end of said pan, traps arrangedto extend downwardly into said fire box at spaced intervals along saidpan, means to draw off liquid from the lower ends of said traps, and

.filtering means in said traps to assist in separating the impuritiesfrom the oil, there being means to allow a draft of air across said pan.

2. In an apparatus of the character described, a furnace, a' shallow pan'inclined rearwardly above said furnace, oil conducting pipes in saidfurnace below said pan, means to discharge oil from said pipes into theupper end of said pan, means'to regulate the-flow of oilto a thin iilmon said pan,

said pan being open to expose said ilmof Y oil to the atmosphere, andmeans to draw off the impurities from said oil as it flows along saidpan.

3. In a device of the character described,v a furnace, a shallowinclined pan above said furnace, means to discharge heated oil at theupper end of said an, traps arranged below the bottom of said) pan todraw oft.' impurities froml said oil, means` in saidpan to direct theo'il through said traps, and means pan to receive the at the lower endof said oil from said pan.

In testimony whereof Ihereunto aliix my signature this 26th day ofJanuary, A. D.

ROBERT H. LINDSAY.

